Violet Affleck urges UN mask mandates amid ongoing pandemic

Violet Affleck, 19, a Yale University freshman and the daughter of actors Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, delivered a speech at the United Nations on Tuesday urging world leaders to maintain mask mandates to curb the ongoing pandemic. Wearing a KN95 mask, she spoke at the UN Headquarters in New York during the event titled "Healthy Indoor Air: A Global Call to Action."

"We are told by leaders across the board that we are the future," Violet said. "But, when it comes to the ongoing pandemic, our present is being stolen right in front of our eyes." She argued that the public has not had real choice or full information about what was being chosen for them. She added that evidence shows SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted through the air and can persist in indoor environments, and that "one infection can result in disabling damage to almost every cell in the body from the brain and heart to the nerves and blood vessels." "Every subsequent infection increases the risk of long COVID and places people who already have it in greater danger," the 19-year-old stated. She cited Yale professor Dr. Akiko Iwasaki in saying that "the whole population in the control group, and after only five years, long COVID surpassed asthma as the most common chronic illness in children in five years or younger." Violet told the world leaders that she was "terrified" that children might spread the virus in schools and "will not know a world without debilitating pain and exhaustion, who cannot trust their bodies to play, explore, and imagine." "I am furious on their behalf. It is a neglect of the highest order to look children in the eyes and say, 'We knew how to protect you and we didn’t do it,'" she added. "We have access to a technology to prevent airborne disease, something that millions of our ancestors and millions of people around the world today would kill for, and we refuse to use it."

She warned that future infections increase the risk of long COVID and harm those who already experience it. "Every subsequent infection increases the risk of long COVID and places people who already have it in greater danger," she said, reiterating the broader health stakes of airborne transmission. She also cited the Yale physician-scientist Dr. Akiko Iwasaki, noting data suggesting long COVID could become a leading chronic illness in children in the coming years. She added that the push for cleaner indoor air should be seen as a basic right, and that indoor air protections could be as routine as access to clean water, saying, "We can recognize filtered air as a human right, as intuitively as we do filtered water." "We can create clean air infrastructure that is so ubiquitous and so obviously necessary, so that tomorrow’s children don’t even know why we need it," she said.

Violet has been an outspoken voice for mask mandates since she disclosed last year that she contracted a post-viral condition. She pressed for mask mandates in Los Angeles hospitals and urged public officials to invest resources in personal protective equipment ahead of potential future pandemics during a city board meeting, according to her past statements. A post-viral condition — commonly called long COVID — can include fatigue, memory problems and exhaustion lasting for months, Mayo Clinic notes.

In addition to her UN remarks, Violet has written for the Yale Global Health Review on COVID-19 responses and climate issues. She is the oldest daughter of Affleck and Garner, who divorced in 2015 and are also parents to Seraphina, 15, and Samuel, 12.

The remarks add to a broader policy conversation about indoor air standards and pandemic preparedness, highlighting concerns about long COVID and the role of airborne transmission for both adults and children.